Smartphone Breathalyzer Apps Reviewed As DUI Crackdown Continues

By KARA SEYMOUR (Patch Staff)

Law enforcement across Monmouth County has joined in with agencies across the state reminding residents that they’ll be increasing DUI enforcement through New Year’s Day as part of a multi-million dollar federal campaign.

The legal limit in New Jersey is 0.08 and police across the state say they’ll be enforcing the law rigorously this holiday season through increased sobriety checkpoints, roving patrols and regular traffic safety patrols. In Monmouth County, police in Allentown, Asbury Park, Eatontown, Englishtown, Freehold, Marlboro, Middletown, Neptune City, Neptune, Ocean Township, Wall and West Long Branch all received grants for extra DUI patrols, but towns that did not increase their patrols as well, looking for suspected drunk and impaired drivers.

While no one should ever drive impaired, more and more consumer breathalyzers are entering the market — including ones you can use on your smartphone. The apps, which require an attachable nozzle, were recently tested alongside law enforcement by New York Times reporter Jennifer Jolly.

In an attempt to see if these apps are accurate in determining if a driver has had too much alcohol to get behind the wheel, Jolly compared four smartphone breathalyzers with the official device used by California Highway Patrol.

An officer with the California Highway Patrol conducted the test with her.

According to the analysis, which included Jolly drinking incremental amounts of alcohol over several hours and testing intermittently, only one app was as accurate as the police-grade model. The conclusion of the analysis was not surprising — you shouldn’t rely on your smartphone to tell you if you should drive.

As reiterated by the California Highway Patrol officer during the test, “You shouldn’t drive if you’ve been drinking, period.”

In New Jersey in 2013, alcohol impaired fatalities accounted for 27 percent of all motor vehicle-related deaths in New Jersey. During the five-year period of 2009-2013, more than 800 people were killed in alcohol-impaired crashes in the state. There were 54,000 alcohol-related crashes in New Jersey alone during that five-year period, and 20,000 of those resulted in injuries.

So when you’re leaving that holiday party this year, don’t pull out that smartphone to see if you’ve had one too many. Your life, and the lives of others, could be on the line.